More Australians dumping cars due to costs: survey

CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - More car-loving Australians are leaving their vehicles at home, increasingly opting for public transport and bikes as high fuel and housing prices begin to bite, a survey showed on Thursday.

With oil at records of near $140 a barrel, fuel prices at the pump hitting new highs every week, and inflation at 16-year highs, cars were increasingly staying in the garage, a survey of over 2,500 Australians by insurance firm AAMI showed.

One in 10 people now rode a bike or walked to work, AAMI spokesman Geoff Hughes said. The number of commuters using cars to travel to work dropped from 64 percent in 2007 to 60 percent this year while public transport use was up to 20 percent.

Although fuel pump prices in Australia are relatively low by European standards, they are a major issue for most households, as Australians favor large cars to cover long distances in the only country to span a continent.

Centre-left Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week came under pressure to drop petrol taxes, but said he preferred to help households through a combination of income tax cuts and tighter government spending to reign-in inflation and interest rates.

The AAMI survey found that despite being squeezed by rising mortgage repayments, interest rates at 12-year highs and fuel touching A$1.70 ($1.60) a liter, three in five capital city commuters still drove to work.

"We have all felt the effects of higher prices of fuel, but when it comes to getting to and from work and school, three times as many capital city commuters use their car instead of public transport," Hughes said.

Tropical Darwin led the nation in vehicle use, with 74 percent relying on cars, followed by 68 percent of people living in the national capital Canberra, a planned city of highways built for motorists.

In the Western Australian city of Perth -- capital of the nation's China-led resource boom -- 67 percent of people relied on cars to reach the office or school.